Chapter 370: Meeting Nero, the Metal Dragon – Part 1
Vital Yin Core (Completed)
As dual-cultivators usually exchange, steal, or plunder their partner's Qi, blood, and essence to nourish themselves, their foundation and physique are usually fragile.
Vital Yin Core, which can be cultivated by collecting the purest energy of 1,000 virgin maidens, is necessary for dual-cultivators to enhance their weak foundation and meridians.
Men didn't need Yin Essence. But for weak dual cultivators, Yin Essence is a necessary medium to increase the cultivator's combat prowess. As the Yang Essence you have been cultivating during sex can be chaotic and untamable, this core can serve as a stabilizer, allowing you to control your Yang Essence more efficiently.
Secondly, Vital Yin Core can beautify men. With it, your outward appearance will be less masculine while your face will be as pretty as an attractive woman.
Effect: Massively Increase Daily Qi and Essence Regeneration Rate.
…
Vital Yin Core, the old quest reward that Miaomiao had ignored, had been completed because of Dian Wei's 2,500-year-old virginity and her strength.
Based on the system information, Miaomiao didn't need it anymore since he already had something superior, such as Life Essence, sturdy physique, and unique bloodline.
In short, he didn't need a Yang-Essence Stabilizer! Though the daily life essence regeneration might be useful in the long run.
Still, Miaomiao was glad that this old quest was out of the way since it occupied a quest slot for ages. He could move on and get more profitable quests, which might offer Luck Points as rewards.
For now, he had to shove everything to the back of his head.
Miaomiao didn't pay attention to the surroundings when Dian Wei brought him to the underground levels. Strangely, the further she descended, the taller the ceiling.
Now, the underground ceiling was at least 200 meters, and a gigantic monster had been living inside.
By the time they reached their destination, Miaomiao finally snapped back to his senses.
In front of Miaomiao, a colossus black dragon with glowing eyes had been resting in his massive cave, but one of his eyes stared at him.
The dragon scale reflected the dimmed light from the glowing gemstones on the ceiling, shining like refined black diamonds. Even the four wings behind its back were made of thick dark gemstones.
Spike-like dragon spines, barbed tail, and massive long neck of the dragon resembled intimidating evil dragons in RPG games. Four curvy horns on its head became its crown, but they emitted strong metal element Qi.
No matter where Miaomiao looked, this metal dragon was scary. Moreover, he couldn't measure this monster's cultivation base or strength!
Although shocked, Miaomiao was confused about how a monster of such size had been living in an enclosed space. It should have broken out of this hell hole and let loose long ago.
Dian Wei whispered, introducing her master to Miaomiao.
"That is my master, Nero. He rescued me from the hands of evil humans and taught me several cultivation techniques. I also got his bloodline after I ran an errand for him for… I don't know how long."
"… Wow."
Miaomiao was impressed. Since Lu Fengxian recommended that he should stay here for a while, he suspected that the ex-immortal might have known something about the dragon. Also, Miaomiao wondered how strong the dragon really was.
"Most importantly, don't piss him off. His cultivation might be suppressed to the 9th-stage, but his real strength is on par with the Immortal King Realm cultivators. Make sure not to rub him the wrong way."
"Immortal King-What? How strong is that compare to the 9th-stage?"
Miaomiao was clueless about the realms beyond the mortal realms. Hearing the term, "Immortal King", he was interested in the cultivation tiers in the higher realms.
But his curiosity was interrupted.
The dragon stared at Miaomiao with its jewel-like eyes. Then, it snorted as if it disliked something.
"What a waste. Why did Firecracker allow this trash to inherit his bloodline? He can't even utilize his Qi and Essence properly. The legacy is a waste in his hands."
"Err, what?" Miaomiao was confused about what the dragon had complained about.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Hah! Did you steal the fire dragon legacy from that dying lizard!? Didn't he tell you to open your meridians properly!? I don't know how the hell you manage to survive up until now, but you'd better find a successor to inherit your dragon bloodline before you get yourself killed! A trashy demon like you will never ascend to the 8th-stage in your lifetime."
"…"
Ignoring the insult, Miaomiao finally figured what the black dragon had referred to.
It was the fire dragon bloodline that Miaomiao had gotten from Xie Tian's clone! Now, he knew why the dragon disliked him.
While the dragon had been complaining and insulting Miaomiao, Dian Wei bent her legs as if she bowed to the dragon.
"Greetings, master. I've brought a guest here to request your help. This is… what's your name again?"
Miaomiao almost slipped off Dian Wei's back. They had marathon sex for a day, but they didn't even know each other's names.
"Mao Miaomiao."
"Okay. Master, his name is… err… what was it again? Oh, right! Cat Meow-Meow."
"…"
Miaomiao facepalmed, but he didn't bother correcting the name.
The dragon sneered, "It doesn't matter what his name is. You want me to fix this little bastard's meridians, I assume."
"Correct, master."
"Why should I?"
"You should have noticed. I need him to fertilize my eggs. So far, I'm quite disappointed that his strength is too weak. My children would have gotten a lot stronger had his cultivation base been on par with me. But as he currently is, he won't be able to advance to the 8th-stage no matter how hard he tries. Could you help him get stronger, so I can breed stronger children? I want to raise an army to hunt humans out there."
Miaomiao had a wry smile on his face as he was offended. Yet, he kept quiet to listen to the conversation as it related to the advancement to the 8th-stage.
The dragon smirked and snorted, "I refuse."
Dian Wei was shocked. She stood up and accidentally knocked Miaomiao off her back, "Why, master!? You only need to spend a bit of your Qi and time, then you can easily fix him as you did to my meridians."
"Had he been an ordinary demon weakling, I would have helped him. But this bastard stole the bloodline of my comrade! I won't help his successor even if he's a lowlife wastrel or one-in-billion genius!"
The killing intent of the dragon exploded, causing the ceiling and walls to dent, expanding the size of the cave. Even Dian Wei and Miaomiao were blown away to a wall.
Surprised by the sudden attack, Miaomiao transformed into a lizard-like dragonewt and spread his fire dragon wings to protect himself. He also brought out a bottle of spring water to drink to heal his internal organs.
As soon as Nero sensed the unusual aura of Miaomiao's medicinal water, he receded its killing intent.
"BRAT!!" The dragon roared.
Miaomiao coughed and spat some of the spring water out, "Yes, sir."
"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT WATER!?"
"Err, the dryad realm?"
"GIVE IT TO ME!!"
"… Okay."
Miaomiao tossed the half-full bottle of spring water toward Nero. The dragon gently grabbed the glass bottle with his mouth and drank it. Then, he spat the glass bottle back toward Miaomiao.
"Do you have more?" Nero licked his mouth.
"Sure," Miaomiao looked at his system inventory slots and Wei Yuan's inventory slots, which had stored many containers of excess spring water from Siren City.
He took out a hundred canteens of spring water and arranged it on the ground in front of him.
Nero widened his eyes in delight. He manipulated the canteens with his Qi, bringing them to his mouth, and began chucking the water.
A minute later, Nero burped.
"THAT HITS THE SPOT! Thanks, brat!"
Miaomiao shrugged, "You're welcome, I guess. Well, could you help me fix my meridian?"
"Ha! No."
"But you stole my precious spring water!!"
"That amount is nothing!! If you really want my help, give me a river worth of hollowed spring water! If you can do that, I'll even give you my fucking bloodline!"
…
Human Immortals and Gods always captured and sealed dragons in various wastelands, using their natural power and aura to terraform a useless plane into a flourishing land with abundant natural resources.
This black metal dragon was one of the captives.
Nero, a former dragon lord from one of the Immortal Realms, had been sealed here for years. Along with many dragon lords, each of them was trapped in a different continent and planes due to their unique power, which influenced the surrounding areas with their primary elements.
Nero was born a metal dragon. His aura continuously turned worthless rocks into precious gemstones, spirit stones, and rare minerals.
Thus, he was trapped within a mortal world.
Because of the powerful restraints that had been engraved onto his soul, Nero's power and soul dantian were sealed. He could only rely on his physique and one type of elemental essence, the metal element, to survive.
Without his soul domain, soul authority, and other abilities, Nero was depressed, giving up everything to his fate.
But he had one dream.
Nero had heard about the magical elixir of the dryads, which could restore one's vitality and heal any wound. He hoped that he could get his hands on the spring water one day to test if it could undo the seals on his soul.
Then, after all the long years he had endured, a snotty brat with a fire dragon bloodline appeared.
Nero remembered the scent of the fire dragon bloodline. It belonged to his old friend, Firecracker.
However, there was no soul or will of his friend within the brat's blood or essence, which implied that his friend didn't approve of the boy.
Thus, Nero disliked the mutated demon in front of him. He thought that the boy had plundered it from someone or forcefully extracted the bloodline from his friend.
Yet, fate played a prank with him. The boy suddenly brought out the mysterious elixir of the dryads that he had dreamt of, and shared it with him.
Nero took a sip to test its effect.
Unfortunately, the water couldn't undo the seals right away. However, it strengthened his soul dantian, replenishing some of his power.
He felt refreshed!
Moreover, the seals were chipped by a tiny bit!
Nero needed more of this water. He extorted the boy, and the boy obediently gave it to him.
The dragon was surprised by Miaomiao's kindness. He began to doubt whether he was an evil plunderer or an evil thief who had stolen his friend's bloodline or not.
Still, Nero didn't fully believe in Miaomiao. He asked for something impossible.
"That amount is nothing!! If you really want my help, give me a river worth of hollowed spring water! If you can do that, I'll even give you my fucking bloodline!"
Nero sneered as he didn't expect Miaomiao to be able to complete the request. Although it would be nice if he had plenty of medicinal water left.
"A river-worth? Are you okay with that?" Miaomiao tilted his head, mimicking Dian Wei's action.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmNero clicked his tongue, finding Miaomiao obnoxious, "Yeah! I swear by my dao oath! If you can give me what I want, I'll fix you fucking meridians and give you my bloodline like how I did to that spider!"
"You promised, okay?"
"That's right!"
Miaomiao rubbed his hands and grinned from ear to ear. Nero could even hear a faint mutter, [Easy!], from the guy's mouth.
Ignoring Miaomiao, Nero turned to his disciple, "Little spider, where did you catch this stupid guy?"
Dian Wei looked at Miaomiao and smiled, "I don't know. He just showed up near my nest, and I caught him accidentally."
"Accidentally? Didn't you notice his bloodline and his disguise?"
ZAAAA
"No. I was half-asleep at that time."
ZAAAAAA
"Haiz… Try to be moderate. Target only evil humans and let the demons in! Let our people know that I'm stuck in here, so they can either migrate here or use the mineral in our caves to their advantage. We want the demons to kill all those evil humans!"
ZAAAAAAAA
"I'll try, master."
ZAAAAAAAAAA
"Anyway, since you've come here, I'll check your progress…"
ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"…"
Nero stopped talking midway as the strange dragonewt kept pouring magical spring water from several giant containers to the ground. Some of the water seeped into the soil underground while the majority of them remained on the surface of the cave.
"Brat, what are you doing?"
Miaomiao continued to bring various wooden containers out of nowhere and slashed the content to the cave, "Filling the cave with this water as requested."
"Haaa!!?"
Nero quickly scooped the spring water and licked the ground, collecting all the water into his mouth.
"STOP!! STOP, YOU IDIOT!! DON'T THROW AWAY THE PRECIOUS WATER!!"
"But you said you want a river-worth of this water, so I'm making a river for you. How can I make a river if I don't fill this place with water?"
"BUT YOU WASTED A LOT OF WATER!!"
Miaomiao tilted his head for a moment. Then, he clapped his hands after he had realized something.
"I'm really stupid! Indeed, I'm wasting my precious water!"
Nero nodded and heaved a sigh of relief, "That's good that you've realized. Now, instead of throwing away the water, you can hand it over to me. How about this? I'll fix your meridians if you give me everything in your possession and live with my disciple for a thousand years."
Miaomiao ignored the dragon and touched the ground, injecting earth element Qi into the soil.
RUMBLE
The dark soil, stones, and unknown minerals suddenly merged and became solid. A portion of the ground also ejected a cubic of dirt, rocks, and unknown gemstones out, creating a cubic hole in the ground.
The surface of the dug ground became solid instantly as if they were paved by cement.
Miaomiao grinned and began to pour spring water into the make-shift pool. He also turned to the dragon, "I'm sorry. This time, I'll store the spring water properly. Let me finish filling this pool first, and I'll make another pool, okay? Let's see… will 1,000 cubic meters enough for you?"
"…"
Nero stared blankly at Miaomiao, unable to comprehend what he saw or heard.